Двойник

Well, this turned out to be a bit of a chore to get through. The Double, as one of Dostoevsky's earlier novels, is, perhaps, let down by his inexperience and laborious pace. I love the doppelganger theme, especially in Russian literature, but here a good concept is lost in the overly wordy and repetitive prose. It takes an age for the story to really kick in, and then the reader is, again, left waiting for the next development in the plot. I think the story itself is a good one: the persecution, self-destruction, and mental instability of a pathetic man, who is desperate to but incapable of fitting in. Sadly, this interesting premise does not make up for the novella's weaknesses, and I think (from the little I've read by him so far) that this is far from Dostoevsky's best.